national institutes of health nih

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched Time to Talk, an educational campaign to encourage patients—particularly those age 50 or older—and their health care providers to openly discuss the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine, such as herbal supplements, meditation, naturopathy, and acupuncture.

Two occasional HCR bloggers are co-authors of an article published this week:

Why the NIH Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) Should Be Abandoned
Kimball C.

Atwood IV, MD; Elizabeth Woeckner, AB, MA; Robert S. Baratz, MD, DDS, PhD; Wallace I. Sampson, MD
Medscape J Med. 2008;10(5):115.

©2008 Medscape
Posted 05/13/2008

The Boston Herald just ran an op-ed arguing against proposed legislation to ban gifts by pharmaceutical representatives to physicians.

It included arguments that pharma reps are educators, not salespeople:

Despite extensive training, physicians cannot know the details of all products, especially new ones.

Therefore, company salespersons complement physicians’ information derived from many sources.

Last summer, we posted about allegations that Dr David Schwartz, then-director of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (part of the National Institutes, of Health, NIH), had several significant and previously undisclosed conflicts of interest.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director, Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., today named Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., to be the director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).

An accomplished researcher and physician, Dr. Briggs brings a focus on translational research to the study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to help build a fuller understanding of the usefulness and safety of CAM practices.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will conduct a 3-day grantsmanship workshop.

This workshop will provide researchers, fellows, and graduate students with an in-depth understanding of the NIH grants and review processes, clarify Federal regulations and policies, and highlight areas of special interest and concern.

Stephen E. Straus, M.D., 60, the first director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), died of brain cancer May 14, 2007, at his home in Potomac, Maryland.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has established an Integrative Medicine Consult Service at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center, the world's largest hospital devoted to research.

Stephen E. Straus, M.D., first Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), stepped down from his position on November 7, 2006, for health reasons.

Dr. Straus plans to continue his scientific work at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as Senior Advisor to the NIH Director.

On November 7, 2006, Stephen E. Straus M.D., Director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), stepped down from his leadership of the Center for health reasons.

Straus will become Senior Advisor to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D.